…look good while saving the environment.
For those of you who don’t know, Portland is a bike town. Cyclists come in all ages and from all walks of life, but there are a number of people who still have negative connotations with cycling because of this old stereotype:

What a Douche, right?

Fortunately people are starting to figure out that you can ride your bike in (gasp!)… yournormal clothes!!! You can ride to work without getting decked out in full gear like you’re about to ride the Tour de France. Fortunately style icons like Chloe Sevigny have been spotted riding their bikes around Manhattan, showing the world that bikes are sexy. Here’s Chloe on her folding ladies’ bike, notice how the frame is slanted so that you can ride in a skirt:

The fact that the bike folds makes it ideal for a New Yorker since you can easily stuff it in a closet if you live in an apartment with limited space. According to NYC Streetsblog:

“Alex Marshall at the Regional Plan Association notes that we could be looking at a positive trend if, in fact, ‘women are feeling comfortable enough to cycle in nice clothes and without helmets.’ Marshall says, ‘It almost compares to the way conduct and attitudes in the subway shifted dramatically a decade or so ago.'”

I don’t know about the whole no helmet thing, I suppose it’s a personal choice but it hardly seems like something transportation planners should be promoting. I guess if you require helmets it suggests to people that cycling is very dangerous, which would discourage people from doing it. Chloe Sevigny is talking on the phone while riding, and that is definately a dumb idea.

Another stupid thing to do on a bike is to Zoobomb. For those of you not in Portland let me translate: Grown adults take their mini-bikes on the light rail to the Zoo station, which is inside a tunnel through a hill. You take a long elevator ride up to the top of the hill and then ride down it as fast as possible, barreling through stop signs and traffic lights into downtown Portland. You then get back on the train and do it again. Here’s a video to show you what it’s like:

Now that it’s spring here in Portland and it’s not raining every single day, I try to bike as much as possible. All my life I’ve had these twiggy little chicken legs, but by the end of this summer I want to have shapely, burly ones. Check out this guy’s hot-legs… I know I was down on spandex bike shorts before, but I think he’s earned the right to wear them: